Resolution
by Lorca the Great
Summary: Mixing drinks at his parents' New Year's Eve party wasn't exactly Roxas' idea of a good time. Maybe he could escape somehow… but who would rescue him from the monotony? AkuRoku, for New Year's.


**Author's Note: **Yeah, a bit late for a New Year's fic, but I don't care! AHAHA! Well, it's just a fun little fic. I've missed writing from Roxas' point of view. Oh, and this is a ONE SHOT. So, FYI, I won't be adding on to it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own these people and I didn't make up the drink recipes.

**Other Junk: **Yes, those are real drink recipes, minus the Roxie comments. They are for a Cosmopolitan Martini, a Lemon Drop Martini, and a Mimosa. Mmm, delicious. Oh, and Vodka and Lime. Not sure if that's the real name or not. Google can lie.

**Summary: **Mixing drinks at his parents' New Year's Eve party wasn't exactly Roxas' idea of a good time. Maybe he could escape somehow… but who would rescue him from the monotony? AkuRoku, for New Year's.

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Resolution

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The recipe:

Two shots vodka, one shot triple sec, a splash of concentrated cranberry juice, one lime's juice, dash of sugar, pour into shaker with ice, shake it up a bit, pour into chilled and sugar-rimmed martini glass, shove onto counter, move on, try not to kill anyone, Roxas. One and a half shots vodka, make sure to give brother hell in the morning, another one of triple sec, a good amount of fresh lemon juice, make sure to get plastered sometime in the near future, dash of sugar, slop into martini shaker, make sure the lid is secure because fuck knows it goes everywhere if it comes off, shake it up, pour into sugared and chilled glass, shove into person's waiting hand, curse them out in head, listen to more orders. Oh look, someone wants champagne early. Greedy fuckers. Tall champagne glass, little more than halfway filled with bubbly, resist downing the rest of the bottle on the spot, retrieve chilled orange juice and top it off, try not to 'accidentally' drop the carton on the nice and expensive tiled floor, give glass to waiting woman in extremely low-cut black evening dress, who was giving 'the look,' resist spitting into her drink before releasing glass.

The cause:

Bartending a New Year's Eve party. Roxas' least favorite holiday. The cause for the hatred: the fucking parties his family had to put on _every year_ for their rich and snobby 'friends.' Meaning the higher ups who they wanted to get in the favor of and the people trying to work their way up the pyramid. And here Roxas was, as always, completely out of his element. It was one thing to be an art student at an extremely liberal university, but to be a badass don't-give-a-shit gay young man raver with a tendency to enjoy a good hardcore something or another once in a while, was quite unaccepted in this sort of company. Which is exactly why he was focused on his task and determined to not socialize with any of the fifty-some guests swarming around his parents' house. Roxas was glad that he had remembered to lock the door to his room, knowing how these rich suck-ups enjoyed exploring around their fancy and undoubtedly expensive modern minimalist style house, which was big enough for a family of ten but only housed four.

His parents had offered for him or Sora to invite their friends, and his brother was quite thrilled at this information and continued to invite everyone he had ever been acquainted with. The social freak. Roxas hadn't invited anyone. He figured he would spare his few close friends the agony of such a fucking boring New Year's Eve. Plus, all of them would have fit in as much as he did: not at all.

The story:

He watched Sora's friends mingle amongst themselves, obviously distinguishable from his parents' guests in age and appearance. He continued making and pouring out drinks for the partygoers, hardly receiving any acknowledgement for his hard work. Eventually, after seeming to give everyone a second and third refill, the crowd around the bar died down. He was mixing the fourth drink of the early evening for the low-cut black evening dress woman, who was still giving him 'the look,' when one of the people from a group of Sora's friends broke away to come sit beside the bar in one of the three tall stools, Roxas noted with some surprise as he picked up the guy's movements from the corner of his eye.

Roxas didn't even bother looking up before asking in the dullest tone he could muster, "What'll it be?" He was _so_ disinterested in his job that he _had_ to make it more interesting by sounding _less_ interested. Yes, he had reached an all-time low.

"Something strong that'll burn on the way down. Like a single malt scotch." Swath voice with just a bit of a scratch to it. Roxas' cerulean eyes turned up from mixing the drink for the waiting woman and _froze_. Red spikes and _woah green _eyes and _red_ and… gravity defying _spikes _and _green_ and… _facial_ tattoos.

_Damn_, Sora had one hell of a hot friend.

Roxas blinked from his 'hot guy in close proximity' stupor and quickly finished garnishing the drink, distractedly placing it before its consumer before returning to the redhead. "Scotch, right. Rocks?"

Long fingers ran in an irritated way through those gravity defying red spikes. "Up would be fucking fantastic."

Roxas chuckled, mimicking the movement through his own unruly blond hair. "I hear you on that one."

As he went in search of a suitable bottle of whisky, the redhead continued to speak. "Hey, you don't have a line of people waiting for the booze anymore, why don't you take a break?" Had this guy been _watching_ him work his ass off at the bar?

"As long as I don't have to mingle with these shitheads." He didn't give a damn if this guy thought he was one of _them_. Actually, he didn't give a flying fuck about much of anything at that moment.

A deep chuckle rumbled from the redhead, perking Roxas' ears at the enticing sound. "Pull up a chair and join the club."

The blond silently poured the amber liquid that he had yet to develop a taste for into a short glass before sliding it over the counter to the guy who had requested it.

The guy sipped at the glass as Roxas returned the closed bottle to its spot, retrieving the bottle of vodka and a lime in its place. "Nice one," the redhead commented softly, swirling the liquid gently and holding it to his nose and breathing in the scent. For some hardcore-looking dude, he really was taking time to appreciate the drink. He was used to people taking shots just for the sake of getting smashed at the kind of parties that he attended.

Roxas mixed his drink in the same size glass as whisky dude's, two shots vodka and topped with lime juice. He didn't even bother adding a garnish, stirring it quickly before shoving it in the empty spot beside the redhead. He made his way out and around the bar and perched himself on the stool in front of his precious drink.

The sophisticated music played softly over their heads as they sipped at their alcohol.

"Great choice of music," that delicious voice droned out with a hint of sarcasm.

Roxas scoffed in return. "I wasn't the one to choose it."

"Thank the lord for that. I would've lost all respect for you," he said, twirling a hand in the air before him.

The blond broke into a small smile, deciding to keep the conversation flowing. "So, how do you know Sora?"

The redhead shrugged, staring into the glass he held before him delicately. "I don't, really."

Woah, warning lights flashing. Blue eyes were narrowed suspiciously. Didn't know Sora? So he must be… "So you're crashing."

He must've picked up on the twirling yellow light positioned above Roxas' head, since he immediately went to the nice guy act. "No, no!" He paused for a second and continued, "Well, sort of, I guess. I came here with Demyx. No idea how he knows the kid. Probably university." A friend of a friend… was that considered crashing or not? Roxas took a sip of his drink and dropped the issue. The redhead covered his relief by changing the subject. "So how'd he hire you to do this thing? You with a party company?"

Roxas gulped down the sip and couldn't stop the small laugh to his words. "Party company? Yeah right. At least I'd get paid if I did that." He gestured out vaguely to the people standing around chatting it up. "Sora put on the guilt trip for not going to this thing last year, so I figured I could help out."

The redhead hummed in thought, resting his chin on a fist, turning his full attention to the blond. "So, he your ex-boyfriend but now your friend or something?"

Roxas almost choked on his vodka and lime at that one. He let out a cough, followed by a harsh laugh. "Fuck no, he's my little brother."

The guy chuckled lowly, sounding ever so sexy to Roxas' ears, especially after he had drained half of his drink. "I see. So how'd you get so good at bartending, then?"

"It's called getting a job at a restaurant bar. I made fucking martinis for almost a year." He had made decent tips, though, which helped when he had refused to take his parents' money for his personal expenses.

The guy flipped his head and scanned the groups of guests. "People seem to be enjoying them, so it must've paid off."

Roxas rolled his eyes before returning them to his drink. "Yeah, right. They didn't come here for the free drinks. People just came here to make connections in the rich world and to discuss how they rule the country with their snobbery."

Radioactive emerald eyes widened. "Someone's a bit bitter."

Well, that hit the nail right on the head. "I grew up with this shit. It's a miracle that I'm not one of them."

The guy chuckled lightly. "I'm glad you're not, 'cause then I'd have no one interesting to talk to."

The more Roxas talked to the guy, the more he came to realize just how… fascinating this guy was. He was witty, which he didn't get very often in the company of his parents' or Sora's friends. He relaxed somewhat into his less asshole-ish self. "Great. First the bartender, now I'm entertainment to the crasher. What next?"

"How about the brother who ditched the party two years in a row?" Green flashed adventurously when cerulean met their gaze.

Roxas forced himself to keep breathing at that… almost seductive gaze. "Yeah, that'd be the day. Sora would kill me."

The redhead leaned forward a few inches, as if they were planning a dirty prank. "Do you want to, though?"

The blond forced himself to look back down at his drink. Damn, did this guy _really_ know how to press his get-turned-on-in-a-hurry buttons. "Anything would be better than hanging around this shit."

"Okay," the redhead said decidedly, standing and downing the rest of his drink before offering a hand out to Roxas. "Let's go somewhere."

He looked up to the guy suspiciously, his heart doing back flips in his chest. "You serious?"

The guy took his offered hand and balled it against his waist, which just so happened to be deliciously curved. He made a widespread motion with his other arm around the room. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend my New Year's Eve surrounded by these people."

Roxas laughed softly, taking another gulp of his drink, ignoring the redhead, who obviously wanted to get out of there _right that moment_. "Welcome to the past twenty two years of my life."

"That's kind of scary," he commented slowly.

"Horrific. I'm surprised I've survived this long," he added just a bit of a tease to his words, a smirk growing across his cheeks. He finished off his drink and set the empty glass back on the marble counter.

"Hey," blue swiveled on the redhead as he spoke, "let's get going."

Roxas shrugged, as if he hadn't been set on leaving the moment the disgusting music had began playing on the speakers. "Sure, let me grab a jacket or something. Don't move or I might never find you in this place." He climbed off of the stool, noting the height difference between them.

"If you can't find me, just yell out, 'Hey look, the male stripper's here,' or something," he threw out, a wide grin spreading across his tattooed cheeks.

"Damn, I wish." Roxas rolled his eyes before waving the guy off. "I'll be right back."

It took a bit of work to maneuver around the groups of talking people holding his concoctions, but he safely made it to the stairs after ducking behind the banister to avoid being seen by his most beloved brother. He charged up the stairs and shoved his way past a making out couple in the hallway, pulling the key to his room out of his pocket. He pressed into the door and shut it behind himself, leaning his back against the cool wood surface to catch his breath.

Holy _fuck_. He was about to spend the rest of the evening with the hottest creature that he had ever set eyes on outside of the movie theater _plus_ he was going to skip out of yet another boring party. Roxas couldn't help but keep the giddy grin off of his face as he dug through his closet for an appropriate jacket. He settled on his mid-thigh length black coat. Not too fancy, but if they ended up going somewhere a little bit more up-class, he would fit right in.

Roxas was out of his door, locked behind him, and storming down the stairs in a matter of moments. He was lucky that no one who recognized him hailed him down, because he couldn't give a damn about anyone in that room more than that redhead still standing beside the bar… talking to someone else? Roxas couldn't help but feel betrayed. He walked up behind the redhead a bit timidly.

"Hey," he spoke up, trying to gain the redhead's attention away from the blond mohawked dude he was chatting it up with. He succeeded and was met by a wicked grin.

"Hey yourself. Have you met Demyx?" He motioned to the blond beside him.

The guy – Demyx – perked up. "Oh hey, you're Sora's older bro. We were biology study buddies last semester and he talked about you. So uh, what's your name again?"

Sora talked about him? Freaky. "I'm Roxas."

"Oh, that's right. So, you and Axel are ditching?" Damn, this guy was bubbly. He must be a sociopath and get energy by stealing it from the people around him. Damn, that was a nice skill.

Roxas shot a sly glance at the redhead. "Yeah, _Axel_ and I were about to leave." Axel, huh? Wasn't that a car part or something? Whatever, it was fiery, just like his bright red spikes.

Demyx managed to smile even wider and elbowed Axel in the side. "See, Ax? I told you that you weren't going to regret coming along with me."

"You mean you _dragging_ me here? Yeah, I loved it so much that I'm _leaving _right now." Heavy on the sarcasm there.

"But you- oh never mind." The mohawked guy shoved at his friend. "Go on, go have some fun. I'll see you sometime."

"Thanks Dem." Axel turned to Roxas as Demyx turned and disappeared into the crowd. "Well, lead the way."

"Where are we going?" The blond was determined to not let his giddiness overrule his cool and collected demeanor, but to sound interested at the same time.

"Out of the house, for starters." Axel chuckled. Roxas raised his eyebrows in a sarcastic 'no, really?' way. "Oh, you mean _after_ that. Well, Marluxia usually has pretty wicked parties. We could go over to his shindig."

"Will there be booze?" To that question, the redhead nodded an enthusiastic yes. "Great. Now let's get out of here before my brother or parents see us."

"They won't freak out if you're gone in the morning?" They started walking, weaving around the people getting more and more tipsy as the minutes wasted away.

"I'll text Sora. But let's get _out_ of here first." The blond gave Axel a little shove to make him walk faster.

"In a bit of a hurry, are we?" They had reached the front door and Roxas paused to catch the sly smirk on the redhead's face.

"You have _no idea_," Roxas stressed, pulling the door open and stepping into the cool night air, quickly followed by Axel. "_Freedom_," he breathed, sucking in the sweet scent of the new evening.

There was a jingle of keys beside him, catching the blond's attention. "My car's up this way," Axel informed him, motioning up the slanted street that was a fucking _blast_ to skateboard down.

They spent the trip to the car and the trip in the car chatting about this and that. He found out that Axel was visiting from Hollow Bastion, which was the city right next to Roxas' university. He was staying with his brother for the holiday. He also found out that Axel had gone to college in Twilight Town, right beside Roxas' old high school and was taking a year off before transferring to Roxas' university. They were both a little freaked out by the similarities in their lives, but it gave them plenty to talk about.

Before Roxas knew it, they pulled up beside a curb in the run-down bar district. Huh, looked just like where he usually went with his college buddies when they wanted to drown themselves into a drunken stupor.

"Well, here we are." Axel clambered out of his car and Roxas followed suit. A steady throb of music could be heard coming from one of the seemingly empty buildings. "See, Marluxia rents out this bar every once in a while and throws these mad parties. Just don't freak out if Marly flirts with you. He does that to everyone. He said to bring someone, so don't worry about crashing."

Roxas walked beside the redhead as they came upon the bar door, taking in all the information. "Well, that's a relief, I guess."

Axel paused, his hand on the door handle. "Trust me, you won't be disappointed."

The blond scoffed at that. "Anything is bound to be a step up from what we came from." By the thundering music that came from the place, Roxas knew Axel's statement to be true. They walked into the establishment and were bombarded by ear-splitting but amazingly awesome dance-techno music and seizure-inducing rave lights. Just that kicked Roxas into gear, his heart throbbing with the beat of the song.

He was steered further in, past the dance floor filled with moshing and grinding bodies, over to the open bar.

"I'll get your drink, this time," Axel said over the music.

Roxas grinned at him before turning and taking in the rest of the room. Well, it was undoubtedly over the fire marshal's maximum number of people limit, but there was still enough room to weave around. It seemed like most of the people were dancing their hearts out on the platform while a few groups were gathered around at the tables. There were silver and black streamers strewn across the ceiling and a giant projector screen showed off exactly how many hours minutes and seconds were left until the new year.

For some run down-looking place on the outside, it was a smashing party. Axel was right: this guy really knew how to throw a party. A glass not unlike the one he had previously been drinking out of was shoved before him, the redhead holding a drink identical to it.

Roxas threw him a genuine smile and joked, "You're not going to date rape me, are you?" He was feeling the alcohol kick in from his last drink and he was starting to feel pretty damn good.

Axel swept down on him, pulling their foreheads together, a hand on the back of the blond's neck, a wicked grin spread across his face. "Wouldn't dream of it, Rox." As fast as he had pulled them together, he broke away. "Hey, I see Marluxia over there. Let's go say hello, shall we?"

He followed the redhead, seeing a slight sway to his hips as he walked that the blond hadn't taken note of before. _Damn_ did he luck out when he met this dude. He was taken to one of the tables where a pink haired man sat with three other partiers. He turned as Axel approached.

The pink-haired man's face brightened as he instantly recognized the redheaded sex god. "Hey, Axel! I thought you weren't coming." His eyes fell to Roxas and he smirked. "Who's the cutie?"

Axel threw an arm over Roxas' shoulder, which the blond was perfectly fine with, surprisingly. "This is Roxas. I rescued him from his boring parents' party." More like saved him from a night of misery. "Roxas, this is Marluxia."

Marluxia narrowed his gaze, locked seductively on Roxas. "You're welcome here anytime, blondie."

Roxas rolled his and replied, "I'll be sure to remember that, _pinkie_."

He laughed and turned back to the redhead. "Oh, sassy one you've got there, Ax. Think you can handle him?"

"Oh shut up, Marly." The arm around Roxas' neck disappeared.

Marluxia shrugged and waved them off. "Go on, have some fun."

"Yeah, you too," Roxas replied, Axel nodding.

"Undoubtedly," Marluxia purred before turning back to his table.

Axel found them a table and sat down, scooting the chair out with his foot for Roxas to sit on. The redhead took a swig of his drink as the blond sat in the offered seat. "See what I mean about the flirting thing?"

Roxas laughed and took a gulp of his own drink. Hm, strong but just a little bit sweet. Nothing fancy, but it went down like silk. He'd have to watch himself or he might get a bit more drunk than he was bargaining for. "Yeah, but he's not a creeper flirt."

"What, is that what I am?" Axel challenged, leaning over the table just a bit, smirk still plastered across his tattooed cheeks.

Blue eyes were rolled. "Yes, that's _exactly_ what you are, Axel." The redhead laughed at the sarcasm dripping from his words. Interesting. Most of the time, the people who didn't know Roxas very well didn't catch on to his sarcastic comments. It was a relief that Axel wasn't one of them.

They continued chatting over the pulsing music and loud groups of people clustered around the larger tables, steadily working at their drinks, which Axel and Roxas took turns getting up and refilling. Damn, those were getting more and more delicious.

They eventually made their way to the dance floor, after dropping their jackets off at one of the coat hangers, and squeezed their way into the middle of the thrashing, grinding mix. Any inhibitions Roxas might have had with dancing _that_ close to someone he had barely met a few hours before were thrown to the wind the instant Axel's hands found his waist. It might have been due to the fact that Roxas was well inebriated at that point, but he knew somewhere that he just felt comfortable with the redhead. It just felt… right, dancing like they had known each other for months.

They danced, they grinded, they danced with other people, but they would always find each other again.

The moment came where all eyes were for the screen where the projector displayed the seconds left until a new year would wash in. The music was lowered as voices were raised in unison, counting the seconds. A hand wound itself around Roxas' waist, and there was Axel again, eyes bright from the screen as he joined in on the count. The blond didn't hesitate to jump in, his mind a bit clearer than it had been before the dancing.

_Five. Four. Three. Two. One._

A deafening roar echoed through the bar as the counter reached zero.

"Hey, Roxas," an alcohol-saturated and warm breath washed over his ear with those words. The blond turned, and there was _Axel_. "Happy New Year."

Roxas threw his arm around the redhead's neck, pressing a kiss to receiving lips. They stayed like that a moment, brought together in a simple embrace, their first act in the New Year. They pulled away, but their arms remained about the other.

"Happy New Year, Axel." The music was kicked up a notch, people starting to dance around them as they held still. They slowly were coaxed into movement, the song and dance surrounding them as intoxicating as their drinks had been.

They continued dancing for a good while, but decided to cut out just after the clock struck two-thirty, the alcohol and late night partying catching up on them. They retrieved their coats and walked the couple of blocks to Axel's brother's house, since the redhead had flat out refused to allow himself to drive and he had insisted that Reno, his brother, wouldn't mind if his little brother brought a guest. Roxas somehow remembered to text Sora on their way, and wasn't surprised when he didn't get a response. So they made it to the living room couch and crashed, neither having enough energy to do anything but fall fast asleep in each other's arms, a blanket pulled loosely over them.

The Resolution:

The bitch of a headache that morning was _so_ worth it.

-The End-

**End Notes: **Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it. Hey, do me a favor and tell me what you thought by pressing that little button right below here. Thanks!


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